Koko asks Brillantes to act on 2 long-overdue cases

Lawyer Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III is asking the newly appointed chair of the Commission on Elections, Sixto Brillantes, to immediately resolve two complaints for electoral sabotage which have remained pending before the commission for over three years now.

Pimentel referred to Brillantes the case he filed against Lilian Suan Radam et. al., (EO Case No. 07-084) way back on June 1, 2007, as well as EO No. 07-138 which he filed five days later against one Yogie Martirizar.

“Chairman, I implore you to use your reformist attitude to convince your colleagues in the Commission to decide the above-mentioned cases at the soonest possible time,” Pimentel wrote Brillantes last Jan. 17.

“I know that you, as a lawyer who has practiced his profession extensively, will agree with me that justice delayed is justice denied,” he stressed.

Pimentel said that the Comelec had already directed its law department on July 29, 2008 to file the necessary information in court against Radam, but a motion for reconsideration by the respondent filed August 29, 2008 had remained unacted upon by the Comelec to this day.

“The undersigned, who is the complainant in this case, has not been informed or notified of any significant development in this case since then,” Pimentel told Brillantes.

The Martirizar case had also gathered dust and cobwebs at the Comelec, said the son and namesake of former Senate president Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel, Jr.

He said that the Comelec promulgated a resolution in the case on Sept. 23, 2008 which ordered its law department to:

File the proper information against Martirizar for violation of Sections 58, paragraphs 6 and 7 (c) of Comelec Resolution No. 7859 in relation to Section 42 of RA 9369; and to

File the proper criminal complaint before the Department of Justice against Martirizar for falsification by a public officer as defined under Article 171 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Revised Penal Code.

Pimentel said that Martirizar filed a motion for reconsideration on Oct. 7, 2008 which he (Pimentel) opposed in a motion through his lawyer on Oct. 27, 2008.

Nothing has been heard about the case, Pimentel said, after Martirizar commented on Nov. 12, 2008 on the complainant’s motion opposing the respondent’s motion for reconsideration.

“The Comelec has taken more than three long years to resolve and terminate only the preliminary investigation of these complaints for electoral sabotage. This is already way too long. The resolution of these cases is long overdue,” said Pimentel.

Pimentel also has a pending election protest before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) for the 12th and last Senate seat contested in the 2007 elections by him and Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Pimentel gained a lead of over 257,000 votes over Zubiri after an SET recount of votes in the precincts he identified in his election protest, but some members of the SET are seen to favor a recount pertaining to Zubiri’s counter-protest which has been described as a desperate move to hang on to the 12th Senate seat. D’JayLazaro